ISSN 2360-798X
Abstract: The study investigated the contributions of cooperative societies to rural development in Burutu, a local government area of Delta State. We formulated three research questions and three corresponding hypotheses to guide the study. study employed a descriptive survey design, with the population consisting of all registered cooperators in the Burutu LGAs of Delta State, from which a multistage sampling technique selected 369 cooperators. e. We used a structured questionnaire named "Contributions of Cooperative Societies to Rural Development Questionnaire" (CCSRDQ) for data gathering, and two experts in measurement and evaluation at the University of Port Harcourt face-to-face validated its content. Determined the reliability of the instrument using Cronbach alpha statistics, which yielded coefficients of 0.79, 0.78, and 0.82 for the three clusters of the questionnaire. We analysed the raised research questions using mean and standard deviation, and tested the hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance using t test statistics. s. The result of the study indicated that cooperative society has more educational, health, and skill development benefits for members than non-memberIn rural areas, membership in a cooperative society yields the highest benefits for skill development, followed by education, and finally health. s. The study's findings recommend training cooperators to maximize benefits for rural area development.
Keywords: Cooperative Societies, Rural Development, Education, Health, Skill Development